


Candlegirl

by JenCforCarolina



Category: Destiny (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Sunbreaker, Titan Vanguard, reefborn awoken
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-29
Updated: 2016-03-29
Packaged: 2018-05-29 19:37:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6390523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JenCforCarolina/pseuds/JenCforCarolina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She knew what she was going to do. Iona chose to flee. There was a moment that choice was made.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Candlegirl

**Author's Note:**

> [Find it on Tumblr here](http://jencforcarolina.tumblr.com/post/137933004788/candlegirl)
> 
> Part of the 52 stories for 52 weeks Challenge, Week 3, a retelling of a fairy tale.

Iona didn’t like the armor at first. Felt too safe. Her sisters were fighting out there with bodysuits and handguns. Here she was with a full plated pressure suit, pauldrons and thigh guards and gauntlets centimeters thick. Sitting safely in the Reef.

For that reason she preferred not to wear it, kept the magenta uniform of a corsair instead. She had been granted one on her return, unadorned. Rank was rank, even if it had been achieved a decade ago, yet she was given none of her former medals. They had been few but still sources of pride. It was an attempt by the guard not to draw any attention, she was sure, to this anomaly in their fragile Reef. Contrarily it did draw attention, confused glances, critical stares. She knew she did not command the same respect from strangers as she once had. High rank, no commendation. It threw people off.

She settled in Falta, a rim asteroid, as close to Ceres as she could get without living in the rubble of her former home. The idea to run was already in the depths of her mind. He had already spooked her.

“We’re so lucky to have found you.” His Excellency had said as she was boarding her shuttle to the rim. “What a weapon you’ll be.”

“I’m sorry, sir?” She had feigned confusion, though she knew what he meant, and her blood chilled for it.

“For the wars. It’s a noble duty. After your leave, you’ll of course return to the front. Imagine, a Guardian leading boarding parties.” Uldren strolled across the deck, pleased with his own extravagant gait. “You’ll destroy the enemy, lead your forces to victory. You’ll be unstoppable.”

“Her Grace has not yet made a decision. For now, I am to simply rest while she contemplates.”

“Oh, of course. For now.” He paused to allow his face to slowly develop a smug smile. “But it’s the logical decision. The right decision, to defend our home. All that is left of civilization.”

“There is a City.” She countered. “He tells me so.”

“I said civilization.” The Prince sneered. It made her feel oddly defensive. “You wouldn’t choose to defend them before us now would you? Of course not. I’ll be seeing you on your return then, Guardian… Perhaps.”

He left her still looking after him on the ramp of the shuttle. She decided she was going to run.

But not before she enjoyed a few days peace to relax and reflect. It didn’t feel like a decade had passed. Not at all.

This was as it was when the young woman found her. A small, thin girl in an off-duty uniform drifted over and sat beside her, staring through a fishbowl-like window at the stars.

“Hello.” She said softly, and Iona returned the greeting with a nod.

There was a moment of silence before the girl spoke again. “Are you the one?”

“The what?”

She shrugged her neck left and right, shoulders bouncing. “The Guardian?”

For a moment Iona considered not answering, but didn’t know how to convincingly lie in that instant. “Unfortunately.” She said.

It seemed to surprise the girl. “Unfortunate…? To not be burdened by the chance of death, that seems quite fortunate from where I stand.”

“There is always the burden of death.” Iona replied. “It is merely much reduced, from what I am told. And with that reduction comes other burdens of greater magnitude.”

The girl listened, wide eyed and curious, so Iona continued. “Responsibility. I am now expected to be a leader to a greater capacity than before. Depersonalization, I am now a tool, a weapon, to the Guard’s will. I have no doubt I will be ordered into situations where I do not have the capacity to succeed. I fear this defeat. No, death will come for me. And I will have to endure it again and again.”

“You fear failure?” The girl could only barely hide her amazement.

“Always.” Said Iona. “Failure and the disappointment, or even wrath of our Queen.”

The girl looked thoughtfully out at the stars. “Perhaps you will be tested. All will turn out so long as you don’t become like the Candlegirl.”

Iona blinked and turned her gaze to her companion. “Who?”

“The Candlegirl. Of an old story, told by my mother’s mother. From a time before our time. You have not heard it?”

Iona shook her head no. “Tell me.”

“There was a little girl who sold candles. She came from a family that was very poor and her candles got them the money that bought them food. She was out on a cold night, selling candles, but no one would buy.

Her father was ruthless but loved her, and the little Candlegirl knew if she did not sell her candles, he would be angry on her return. He may punish her, but this was only because the family needed the money, and because he loved all his family. The Candlegirl knew this, and yet she decided not to go home. Instead, she hid in an alleyway and lit her candle, trying to keep warm.

She sat in the cold with the candle, watching it melt in her hands. There was one less candle to sell now. But instead of standing and returning to her duty, she burned another candle, and another, selfishly keeping warm as the only source of money her family had was burned away.”

The girl finished her tale, with a curled lip and an expression of disgust. “So long as you are not selfish everything will turn out alright.”

Iona looked to the stars and pondered what she had been told. What if, she thought, the father worked? What of the mother, of the brothers and sisters? Iona was not the only one who could fight, and she was not one who even wanted to fight. She had not wished for this war. This war had taken her right wingman. This war had taken her home. It was about to take her life into servitude and give nothing in return.

“What happened?” She asked “To the Candlegirl. After.”

The girl shrugged. “She used up each of her candles and froze to death.”

There has to be a better way, Iona thought. Don’t sit in an alley, in the cold. Go inside somewhere, where it’s warm and safe. Break into somewhere, sneak in, do something.

The City?

“Thank you for the story.” Iona said. “I will be wiser than the Candlegirl, I think.”


End file.
